This month’s cover artist Beth Gillespie talks about art, folklore and finding fantasy in reality.
Tell us a bit about yourself...
I’m Beth, an illustrator, artist and all round creative. I’m originally from a town in the north called Stockport, but I moved to Nottingham around seven years ago to study BA Costume Design and Making at NTU. I fell absolutely in love with the city and couldn’t bear to leave it behind. So here I am, still in the East Midlands, and still creating!
What is the story behind the cover?
I was asked to create a cover depicting the Major Oak from Sherwood Forest. I find it particularly fascinating how they preserve the tree, keeping it alive after all these hundreds of years. One of the main preservation techniques involves the quality of the soil, which on its own isn’t enough to sustain the tree. I believe they tried lots of techniques, but the one that stuck was to actually just let nature do its thing! By letting the grass, flowers and plants grow freely around the tree, die, then compost, they add the nutrients the tree needs back into the soil. There's a lot of parallels between this and what the Green Man represents: the cyclical nature of life, death and rebirth. So it felt very fitting to show the great oak as the Green Man himself, celebrating the circle of life and how nature can sometimes be the best solution.
What inspires you as an artist?
A lot of my inspiration comes from choosing to observe what’s around me, especially the patterns and hidden imagery within nature. I find having a sketchbook on hand to record images, as opposed to the camera on my phone, really allows me to capture a different kind of detail and energy. There can be a lot of fantasy within reality, if you know where to look.
Tell us about some things you’ve worked on in the past...
I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on a range of creative projects, including illustrations for LeftLion Magazine, the Derwent Press and Tongue in Trees, as well as a variety of commissions. I’ve really enjoyed the creative freedom that has come with each brief and the chance to get involved with local projects. One of my favourites to work on was Tongue in Trees, where I created an illustration that was a visual collage of some of my favourite UK walks from 2024.
Do you have any tricks for getting started and staying inspired as a creative?
Keep an open mind and proactively seek out new experiences! Learning how to see the potential in the day to day for an exciting new idea is a really great skill to have. A lot of the time, I find it can be my not so artsy experiences that feed into my ideas and keep me inspired, even just people-watching in a local café or going for a walk in the rain.
If you could sit down and chat with any artist in your field, who would it be and what would you talk about?
It would have to be Morvern Graham! I have such admiration for her approach to storytelling and how she connects this with her local landscapes. We’d probably talk all about folklore, and her current residency as storyteller whilst creating mythical prints.
Anything else you’d like to tell LeftLion readers?
Stay curious! Keep observing and let your experiences inspire you.
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